Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to surgical instruments that are compatible for use during diagnostic testing, for example, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography scanning and X-ray scanning.
Description of Related Art
Diagnostic scanning devices are commonly used by physicians and/or surgeons to diagnose diseases in patients or view the operative site during a surgical procedure. An example of a diagnostic scanning device is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. An MRI scanner uses high-powered magnets to render images of an internal body cavity of a patient. It is primarily used in medical imaging to demonstrate pathological or other physiological alterations of living tissue. Another example of a diagnostic scanning device is a computed tomography (CT) scanner, which uses X-rays (another diagnostic test) to acquire X-ray images, making it a beneficial tool for examining tissue composed of elements of a relatively higher atomic number than the tissue surrounding them, such as bone and calcifications within the body.
Both MRI and CT scanners are non-invasive and can generate multiple two-dimensional cross-sections (slices) of tissue and three-dimensional reconstructions. By variation of scanning parameters, tissue contrast can be altered and enhanced in various ways to detect different features.
While diagnostic scanning devices are useful and helpful, such devices, with regard to MRI scanners, have an effect on ferromagnetic foreign bodies or metallic implants (e.g. surgical prostheses and aneurysm clips) due to their interaction with magnetic and radiofrequency fields, which can lead to a disruption or compromise of image and/or data quality.
As minimally invasive surgery progresses and the use of intra-operative imaging are further integrated into the operating room, the need for surgical instruments that are compatible with diagnostic testing and related scanning devices exists. It is increasingly necessary for a surgeon and/or clinician to view an operative site, with a diagnostic scanning device, following insertion of a surgical instrument within a body cavity of a patient. Current surgical instruments are composed of a variety of metallic and polymer components, some of which are not compatible with a diagnostic scanning device, such as a MRI scanner. These types of components may disrupt or compromise image and data quality of a diagnostic test, and interfere with the surgeon and/or clinicians use of the surgical instrument.